All the Glitters Are Not Gold
by ashdash2417
Summary: The seven Tree Friends are going on a journey for a treasure hunt, but something will be unexpected from what lies in the cave, which consumes the hidden treasure. May contain FlippyxFlaky.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

In Happy Tree Town, we find a house with a pirate ship on the top, containing the usual piratey-things: a big black sail with the skull and bones in the center of it, the steering wheel in the back, and a circular top, just like any other pirate ship has. Inside the pirate-ship house, we find the turquoise sea otter, Russell, sleeping in a hammock in a pirate hat.

Before his parrot-alarm clock goes off, his deam bubble shows him fighting another pirate, unkown who exactly it was. He was struggling with all his might with his sword in both hands, trying not to get killed. Both pirates were at the edge of a cliff, fighting with all their might. Just before Russell finishes his enemy off, they both hear a parrot noise, which was so loud that Russell got distracted from what he was doing. As he was confused about what was going on, his enemy took both swords and stabbed him in the head and chest.

"Aahh!" Russell shouted as he instantly woke up from his unexpected dream and fell from his hammock onto the floor. "That was some weird dream." he told himself. He walked over to his closet, which had some other pirate accessories, outfit, and boots. "Hmm." he was choosing which outfit to wear until he had officially decided to wear his everyday outfit: his red and white t-shirt with the ripped up sleeves and regular peg legs as shoes. He then picked up his other peg legs, which are like the ones he is currently wearing, but with pink slippers stuck to them, and tossed them into the closet and shut the door.

He then goes outside to the city, only to find candy trails on the ground for some odd reason. 'This must be Nutty, no doubt.' the sea otter thought as he was following the candy trails, which actually leads to Cub, the baby bear with a beanie hat, walking with his father, Pop. Of course, Cub was only a baby and didn't know any better than to leave candy all over the place. Then, Russell heard a familiar jittery giggle from a far distance.

Pop and Cub heard the giggling as well and Pop was saying out of annoyance, "Oh great, not him again. Quick, Cub, give me the candy." Cub didn't want to give away his valuable sweets, thinking that Pop might take it for himself. Instead of giving his father the bag of candy, he hid it behind his back, trying not to let Nutty notice.

The candy squirrel then pushed Russell out of his way, letting him fall into the middle of the road. 'There's no need to be pushy. Then again, I'm talking about Nutty, here. ' Russell thought as he brushed off the dirt from his pirate clothes. Then, unexpectedly, a big semi truck was seen coming down the road, heading towards the turquoise sea otter. Russell turned around to hear what noise was coming from behind him and as soon as he saw what it was, he tried to run as fast as he can, but it was too late. The semi truck, surprisingly, didn't kill him like it normally would, considering the fact that this is Happy Tree Town they're living in. No, the truck didn't kill him, but it did hit him in a far distance from where he was originally standing.

We now find a sandbox sitting in the middle of the park, and all the sudden, Russell lands in it, but he still didn't die. Instead, he found something glowing in the corner of the sandbox. "What could this be?" he asked himself as he picked it up, revealing a bottle with a cork in the lid of it and a piece of paper stuck inside. He opened it, revealing to be a treasure map of some sort. "Yar! Better hide this before anyone sees." he said as he was putting the map back into the bottle and thought for a moment of where to put it in the meantime. "Aha." he said and put it under his pirate hat.

Then, he walked away, trying not to look suspicious at all, until a familiar yellow rabbit and purple beaver ran to him, startling him. "Hey, Russell! What were you hiding back there?" Cuddles asked as he lifted up the pirate hat off of Russell's head. "Ooo, this looks interesting. What is it?"

"It's something only my eyes are meant to see." Russell said as he was trying to take the treasure map back from the yellow rabbit.

"In this case, don't ya mean 'eye?' You do only have one eye, ya know. 'Aye-aye?'" as Cuddles opened the bottle and unrolled the paper, he and Toothy were shocked at what they saw.

"A treasure map?! That leads to treasure?! Come on, Russell, you should let us come with you. It'll be fun." Toothy told the sea otter in excitement, but as he heard that they wanted to go with him, he was a little disappointed because he wanted the treasure to himself. "Yar." he said to himself, but Toothy was right. It would be fun if more than one tree friend went on a treasure hunt. It'd be a lot easier as well. As long as he didn't have a lot of people going with him, he thought 'I guess they could come, just as long as they're not blabbermouths about it.'

"Yeah. Come on, Russell. You've known us forever." Cuddles said and gave Russell back the map.

"I guess you guys can come. Just as long as you don't tell everyone about this. We could have a few more people to come with us, but NOT Lifty and Shifty." Russell warned the two.

They knew what it was like to get robbed by those two thieves. Cuddles, then asks Russell about that last part of the warning, "Why would you think we'd tell those two about this? That would be the dumbest thing to ever do in the history of Happy Tree Town. We COULD get Flaky and Giggles to come with us."

"Yeah, we could also get Flippy to come with us. He's cool." Toothy stated, and the other two agreed with that opinion.

"I guess I could get Lumpy to come with us as well, but that's all who's coming with us. No one else. Got it?" Russell told them, remembering that he didn't want everyone to go with him on the treasure hunt.

"Sure, dude. Secret kept." The two promised and made sure no one else knew.

**XXX**

The four girls were found in Lammy's house, playing poker, like they did the first time, except no one died and Mr. Pickels isn't around. While they were playing, a knock is suddenly heard.

"I'll get it!" Giggles exclaimed as she ran to the door and opened it in excitement. "Cuddles? Toothy? What are you guys doing here?" she asked out of confusion.

"Sorry to ruin your fun time, but we need to see you and Flaky for three seconds."

Lammy, out of confusion, asked them, "Why not all of us?"

"This is top secret for the four of us to know and for you two to never find out." Cuddles told her as Toothy went in the house, grabbed Flaky's hand and the three of them went out the door.

It suddenly closed as Lammy and Petunia just sat there, having no clue about what just happened. "What was that all about?" the blue skunk asked.

"Please! No more of your extreme craziness!" Flaky panicked, knowing that Cuddles drags her into anything and dies just about every time.

"Come on, Flaky. This time, it's not extreme. Trust me. Even Toothy can say so, right, buddy?" the yellow rabbit asked, considering the fact that he and Toothy have been best buds for a long time and knows that Toothy cries more than some of the other tree friends.

Giggles asks, "What are we even doing out here in the first place?"

"Well, Russell asked us if we could grab a few friends to go on this certain treasure hunt. Toothy and I agreed and knew exactly who should come with us, so we picked you two, along with some other people." Cuddles explained.

Flaky had a terrified look on her face, knowing that if there's treasure, there has to be a boat included on this trip. She asked, "D-d-do I h-h-have to go?"

"Of course. Otherwise it wouldn't be as much fun."

"Who's all coming, besides us?" Giggles asked, "Because if Disco Bear's coming with us, then leave me out of this."

"Oh, don't worry. We wouldn't invite him, even if the end of the world is coming. The people that are coming are us, Russell, Lumpy, and Flippy."

As soon as he said the last name, Flaky was starting to get extremely frightened, knowing that the green veteran bear intentionally kills everyone for some odd reason. "Oh, hehe, I-I-I just remembered..th-th-that I have to do something. Okay, bye-bye." She said as she was trying to go back into Lammy's house.

Cuddles, then, grabbed the porcupine's hand and pulled her so she wouldn't cower away, like she always does. "I don't think so, Flaky. You're coming with us whether you want to or not."

Flaky sighed in defeat, facing the fact that she gets forced into doing things like this by Cuddles.

"Anyways, we should be over at Russell's tomorrow by 11:00. We'll see you guys there." As the yellow rabbit and purple beaver left, the other two went back into Lammy's house to continue with their game of poker.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

It was the next morning and Lumpy was seen putting big crates of food in the ship. Russell was in front of the boat with a checklist in one hand, pen in the other.

Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy and Flaky are now here and are all ready.

"We're ready!" Lumpy yelled so the turquoise sea otter could hear, but something was missing...or someone.

Russell double checked his list and realized that Flippy wasn't here yet. "Anyone know where Flippy's at?" he asked.

"We all know Flippy. He gets fashionably late sometimes. He should be here any minute." Cuddles told him as Giggles pointed out, "He doesn't really hang out with us often, except that one night we went to a campfire. Flaky doesn't really hang out with us, either."

"Sure she does, don't ya, Flaky?"

"Yeah. By force, not by choice." the purple beaver pointed out and it's true. Cuddles does drag Flaky into a lot of things and dies just about every time.

Then, Cuddles shrugged it off and said, "Yeah, but still."

"Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late!" a familiar voice called out, revealing to be a green veteran bear.

"Hey, Flippy. Ya made it." Toothy said.

"Hey, Flaky. I see you've made it, too. Were you wanting to com along as well?" the veteran bear asked as Flaky blushed a little, laughed and told him in a nervous way, "Hehe, yeah. Sort of." She said that last part to herself so no one could hear, but her.

"Well, glad ya made it." he told her and went to the ship, along with the others and Flaky followed.

"Everyone ready?!" Russell asked as he was standing behind the wheel.

Everyone responded with an excited "Yeah!" except for Flaky, who laughed a little and said "Yeah." in a quiet voice.

As Russell started the ship, the trip starts and there was no turning back now.

"Yay. Now we might end up lost in that island while finding the treasure."

"Oh, come on, Flaky. Have a little faith in ya. It's not like we won't come back the next day." the yellow rabbit told her, trying to get her out of the 'negative state.' "Anyways, are there any games to play before we get to the island?" Cuddles asks in a boredom kind of tone.

"I figured you'd ask. There's jacks in the other room." Russell pointed towards the door on the left while steering the wheel.

Cuddles and Toothy then opened the door that the jacks were in and suddenly, Cuddles trips and vanishes into the dark room.

"Cuddles? Cuddles?! Oh no! Cuddles is kidnapped!" the purple beaver panicked until a bouncy ball hit him on the side of the head, hurting him a little. "Ow! Hey, a ball. Cuddles! Scream 'acorns' if you're there!" No response. Toothy then tried again, but this time, a little louder than last time. "CUDDLES! SPEAK TO ME, MAN!" Still nothing.

Then, unexpectedly, the yellow rabbit jumped out of the dark room, scaring Toothy. "BAAH!"

"Aaaahhhh! Dude, that was NOT cool! You scared me half to death, LITERALLY!"

"Oh, come on. Have some fun, will ya? And look, I've found the jacks." Cuddles then showed Toothy the jacks that he found in the dark room.

"Good. Now, let's go before you kill anyone else with your jumpscares." the purple beaver said in aggravation, took the jacks from Cuddles and went over to where the others are at.

"Pff, party pooper." he said to himself and followed.

"Hey, guys. Look what we found!" Toothy ran to Giggles, Flaky and Flippy with jacks in one hand and the ball in the other.

"Who's all playing?" the pink chipmunk asked as Flaky slowly backed away, saying "I-I-I'll just watch. Hehe"

Flippy then followed and told the other three "You guys can go ahead and play without me. I'm gonna go sit with Flaky."

"Oh, come on, Flippy. We went through all that trouble, finding these, for only three people to play?"

"Sorry. I might play in the next round, though." Flippy told them as he went over to where Flaky was sitting.

"Hey." the green veteran bear said to Flaky in the nicest way possible, knowing that she gets scared easily.

She scoots away slowly and says "Hi."

Flippy then tells her, "You don't have to be afraid. Everything's gonna be fine."

"H-h-how do you know? Bad things might happen any second and nobody knows it. What's there to not be afraid of?" Flaky asks in a terrified voice.

"You've got a point, there." Flippy said, not wanting to start an argument. _'Real smooth, you idiot. Trying to get her more terrified, are ya?' _an evil voice was heard from the back of Flippy's head. He thought, 'What else could I say? Thanks to you, she's even more scared of me than last time we hung out.' _'Hey, that time was your fault. You could've helped her get out of that car wreck.' _ 'But she stabbed my eye with glass! The point is you shouldn't even be here. Especially since we're going to another island.'

As the green veteran bear was arguing with himself, Flaky was watching Cuddles, Giggles, and Toothy play jacks. Suddenly, she feels a little lightheaded as the boat was turning.

Flippy realizes this and asks her, "Are you alright, Flaky? Feeling sick?"

"N-n-no, no. Don't worry about me. Hehe. I'm just gonna...go over there for a minute." She tells him and runs over to the other side of the ship, scared to know when Flippy would flip out.

_'Nice going, you dim-wit. Scaring her again like a terrorist.' _ 'And I don't blame her. Now, shut up!' He then walked over to where the other three are, playing jacks.

"It's about time, Flippy. Let's see if you can beat 'Daredevil Cuddles' at his own game." Toothy told the veteran bear.

"Come on, he'll never beat me and you know it. So ya for round two?" Cuddles asked, wanting more competition.

"Yar! Land ho!" Russell shouted, waking up Flaky and got everone else's attention.

"Yeah, what he said!" Lumpy hollered as the ship set on land.

"Alright. So, where's the cave? It should be right here." The pirate said and searched around the area for the cave that was supposed to be right in front of them.

"Maybe we should split up and search for it?" Giggles asked, trying to help out. It was the least she could do since they're all with Russell now.

"That...is not a bad idea. Good thinking, Giggles." the pirate complimented about that idea and thought about who should go with who. "Okay, since there are only seven of us, we should split into two groups. So Lumpy, Giggles and I should go this way." he said, pointing towards the left. "And Cuddles, Toothy, Flippy and Flaky will go that way. Does that sound like a plan?"

"I actually thought it would be a terrific idea if Giggles went with us instead of Toothy." the yellow rabbit told Russell, thinking that he might steal his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I agree with Cuddles on this one." the pink chipmunk said and walked over to Cuddles as they were both holding hands.

"Alright. Then Toothy can come with me and Lumpy. Anyways, let's search for that cave if we want that treasure." Russell told everyone as the two groups were going opposite directions, like planned.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

It's been about an hour since the tree friends started searching for the hidden cave, which had the treasure hidden along with it.

"So...hungry. Need...food!" Cuddles complained, considering the fact that they haven't ate since this morning.

"There should be at least some bananas in this island. After all, it IS an island." Giggles pointed out and she was right. Islands should have food somewhere, but where?

"It's very hot out here, too." Flaky said as she was fanning herself with her own hands, trying to get some cooling air in her face.

Flippy just stood there as the red porcupine was getting very little air because of the extremely hot weather. "Here, Flaky, you can wear my hat. It should block the sun some." he told her as he was putting his army hat on her head, trying to keep her cool.

"Thanks, but what about you?" the red porcurpine asked, concerned about how flippy is now not wearing his hat and has an army jacket on in a hundred degree weather.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. What matters the most is that we need to find that cave without losing anyone."

"And to find food." Cuddles pointed out, still complaining about not eating yet.

**XXX**

As the three were seaching for the cave, Toothy saw something that caught his eyes: bananas and coconuts hanging on a palm tree. He stared and told the other two, "Hey, guys! I found the motherload!"

"Where? I don't see a mother." Russell stood, confused about what the purple beaver said he found.

"No, not 'mother.' 'Motherload.' I found food!" He told him, eager to get the bananas and coconuts out of the tree. How are they supposed to if the tree is too tall. Well, too tall for Toothy and Russell.

"Lumpy, can you reach for the bananas and coconuts. You're tall enough." the pirate asked, knowing that Lumpy is a lot taller than the other two.

"Hmm." the blue moose thought aloud and tried to reach for the food. Successfully, he got one of the bananas and pulled with all his might and suddenly, the rest of the food that were hanging on the tree fell on the ground.

"Yaaarr!" Russell shouted in victory until he saw something else that caught his eye as well. "Huh?" He walked over to the dark area that could possibly be what they have been looking for in the past hour and thirty minutes. He was shocked about what he had found. "Guys! Look what I found!" the pirate shouted for them as they were eating most of the bananas and coconuts.

"It's about time! Let's go before we die out here." Toothy said and walked into the cool cave, until Russell grabbed his shoulder and told him, "Shouldn't we grab the food and tell the others? They're still looking for this cave and us. We gotta go back."

"What, and die out there in the heat? I don't think so. If you wanna risk you life out there, saving them, even though they'll come back tomorrow, go ahead. If so, the treasure will only belong to me and Lumpy because we were smart enough to find it without anything interfering!"

"Actually, it would originally belong to me because I was the one who found it to begin with. If you wanna be stingy with the treasure that wouldn't even belong to you in the first place, then we might as well not be friends anymore!" After saying that, the pirate started to regret what he just said to the beaver that cries most of the time for various reasons.

Toothy was starting to be ashamed of what he said as well. Although they don't hang out a lot, they still considered each other as friends, along with Lumpy.

"So, what are we gonna do, guys?" the blue moose asked, interrupting the akward moment they just had.

"Might as well tell the others." Toothy told him. And so, the three of them went to find the other four and left the cave that took them forever to search for.

**XXX**

Still no luck in searching for the hidden cave and the tree friends were about to give up, except for Flippy, who was trying his best to not get tired, no matter how hot the weather was.

"It's no use! I give up! We'll just die out here like we always do!" the yellow rabbit exclaimed as he lied flat on the ground.

Then, Giggles agreed and did the same thing.

"B-b-but...we can't give up. Not now. Russell's depending on us. Come on, guys, don't give up." Flippy said as he was trying to get everyone up and searching.

"Forget it, Flippy. We'll never find that treasure. Just like we'll never find any food." Cuddles told the veteran bear, trying to keep him from wearing himself out.

"Well, I'm not giving up. I'm gonna find that cave, even if it kills me." Flippy told him, but about 10 seconds after he said that, he fainted from the lack of food or water and lied flat on the ground, like Cuddles and Giggles did earlier. 'Gotta...find...that...cave.' the veteran bear thought, trying to keep himself alive. Suddenly, everything went black.

Flaky, however, was still alive. She saw what happened to Flippy, Cuddles and Giggles. As she was thinking of what to do now, she was searching for some food to help keep the other tree friends from dying.

When the red porcupine was walking a few minutes later, she finally found some berries, but not very many. All there is is maybe a handful for her to carry. As Flaky took the handful, she went back to where the others are at.

Unfortunately, when Flaky returned, no one was there. No Cuddles, no Giggles and no Flippy. However, there is a necklace with dog tags that appeared to be left behind. "F-F-F-Flippy? Flippy? Flippy, where are you?!" she panicked and was starting to get very scared about the tree friends' disappearance. "T-t-this is just like that one time we went on a cruise a-a-and the ship burned and we were all getting h-h-hungry and then...we all...died horribly, except that Flippy wasn't with us. And FLIPPY WHERE ARE YOU!" Flaky shouted and was starting to become insane, due to the fact that there was literally nobody and nothing is with her, except for Flippy's dogtags that he left behind. "Y-y-you can protect me, r-right, Mr. Necklace?" she said as she sat on the ground, holding the veteran bear's dogtags.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

As Toothy, Russell and Lumpy were carrying the three tree friends, Lumpy asked, "Hey. I just realized something. Where's Flippy's hat?"

"It probably got lost somewhere. Man, I can't believe Cuddles is so heavy. Much heavier than he looks. So, how long until we get back to the cave?" the purple beaver asked, sounding like he's about to pass out from carrying the yellow rabbit in a hundred degree weather.

"We're finally here!" Russell shouted, eager to go find the treasure along with the other tree friends. "Quick, set them near the water." That's what all three of them did and Russell splashed the ocean water, with his non-hook hand, on Flippy's face.

As the veteran bear awoken, he asks, "Where am I? Russell? Toothy? Lumpy? How'd you find us?"

After the other two have woken up, Russell explains the whole thing, "Well, we found the cave, surprisingly, which is right over there. Then, we all decided to look for you guys. We did, but you guys were unconscious, so we carried you and here we are."

"Hey, Flippy. Just being curious, but don't you normally wear dogtags and a hat?" Toothy questioned the veteran bear.

He then told him, "Yes. My dogtags are right here." Flippy pointed to where the dogtags are supposed to be, but he didn't feel them. "Huh? Where are my dogtags?"

"And hat." the purple beaver pointed out.

"Oh, Flaky's wearing my hat, so you don't have to worry about that...wait a minute. Where is she?"

"Who?" Toothy asked, thinking that they've gotten everyone.

"Flaky! She was with us not too long ago! How could you have forgotten her?!" Flippy panicked as Toothy, Lumpy and Russell stood, confused, but then, Toothy told him, "We didn't see her when we found you guys. Did she abandon you?"

"N-n-no. At least...I don't think so. We didn't even know she was gone."

"What do we do, now?" the blue moose asked.

Flippy was getting very worried about the red porcupine. He knows how scared she gets over the majority of things. He walks away from the rest of the group and tells everyone else, "You guys stay here. I'm gonna find Flaky." then he says to himself, "Hopefully, she's not too far away."

**XXX**

As she was eating the berries she found when her friends were still there, Flaky starts hallucinating and talks to "Mr. Necklace," what she calls Flippy's dogtags, "Are you sure you're not hungry? You could starve and die at any second." She shoves one of the berries on the dogtags, squishing the berry. She then takes off Flippy's hat that he offered her a while ago, puts the dogtags in it and tells it, "Here you go, Mr. Necklace. Why don't you take a nice, relaxing nap while I find some more food for the two of us." After she puts the hat back on her head, she stood up and went into the forest part of the island.

About ten minutes later, Flaky finds another handful of berries. "Oh boy. Another berry." These berries, though, were nothing like the berries she found earlier. These berries looked like raspberries, but were stuck on poison ivy. The red porcupine dosen't notice this and takes the handful anyways. "Mmmm, these berries look delicious. I'm sure Mr. Nacklace would looooove these. Hehe..he." She then returns to the beach part of the island.

"Okay, Mr. Necklace. Lunch is ready. Here, have some berries." She said and shoved the poisonous berry on the dogtags, again, squishing the berry. "Mmmm, let me try some. That looks delicious." As the red porcupine took a bite out of the berry, she was enjoying the taste, despite the fact it's poisonous. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted since dinosaurs came to life! Gimme the rest!" She took the handful and put it all in her mouth at one time.

About a few minutes later, Flaky was starting to feel a little funny and decided to lay down, so she could feel better. "Uuunngh, maybe I should've saved some for you, huh, Mr. Necklace?" She says. Then, the red porcupine started to feel a lot worse than before and complained. "Why did you make me eat all those berries, Mr. Necklace? Why couldn't you have told me to just eat one?" She then decided to lay down and sleep to ease the pain in her stomach.

**XXX**

As Flippy was walking on the beach, searching for Flaky, the same voice came back into his head, telling him, _'Why are you looking for that coward? You know she's just gonna run away from you like she always does. Might as well leave her out there.'_ 'Because she's my friend. And friends always help each other out, no matter what situation.' _'Except that she's not your friend. You guys don't even hang out a lot like that yellow rabbit and pink chipmunk.'_ 'We hang out. And the only reason I don't hang out a lot like those two is because you're the one who has to take over every time something happens that reminds me of war. If you weren't here right now, Flaky wouldn't be so scared of me.' _'Don't you mean "remind 'us' of the war"? Ya know, if we had our own separate bodies, I'd be at you more than how many times that yellow rabbit has died since he first came to this town. So, don't be throwing things at me just because you can't get that red porcupine, whatever her name is, to like you.' _'I bet you can't keep your mouth shut for a whole second whenever I'm not preoccupied. So, shut up!' As he was finished arguing with himself, he finds a red figure laying on the beach. Flippy gasped and shouted "Flaky!" Now, he was getting really worried. He then runs over to her, gets on his knees, sits her head up with one of his arms and feels her forehead with the other to see if she has any fevers.

Afterwards, he heard her say, "D-d-don't worry, Mr. Nacklace. I-I-I'll take care of that tomorrow." Confused about what she said, the veteran bear thought, 'Mr. Necklace?' Something was shining in his face and he then realized what it was. 'My dogtags?' _'No, she was referring to the invisible unincorn that appears in your dreams. What else do you think she was talking about?' _ the voice said in a sarcastic tone. 'What part of "shut up" do you not understand?' _'The part where you keep thinking to yourself, making me think that you're talking to me. So, you're the one who should "shut up."' _ 'Alright, alright. If it'll get you to stop talking.' So, as he was done arguing with himself for the third time, he picks up the red porcupine and heads back to the cave.

The sun was starting to set, the five tree friends were inside the cave because of the extreme hot weather, and they were getting a little tired from the long travels.

Giggles was getting worried the most about the disappearances of Flippy and Flaky. "Hopefully, they're not in too much trouble. It's been a while since Flippy left."

"Giggles, there's nothing to worry about. Flippy and Flaky are fine. Well, I don't know about Flaky, but I know that Flippy should be fine." the yellow rabbit told her, trying to make her think more positively.

"Well, it's the thought that counts." the pink chipmunk said.

Lumpy, Toothy and Russell were already asleep at this time.

Cuddles decided it was time to get some rest and told his girlfriend, "You should get some shut eye. You're gonna need it for tomorrow."

"But what about-"

"Don't worry about them. They'll be fine. Like I told you before. There's nothing to worry about."

"Alright." Giggles said and sighed in defeat and went to sleep with the yellow rabbit and others.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

As Flippy was trying not to pass out while carrying Flaky, he sees the ship and says in relief, "The ship! We're half way there! Huh?" He then spotted something that was a bit suspicious. "I don't remember that boat being there. I hope it's nothing important." The green bear goes over to the front of the ship, sets Flaky down and goes on board to grab a couple of things.

Flippy opens one of the four doors to the ship and asks himself, 'Now, where are you?' _'What, are you gonna kill her on the beach again?' _ 'Fliqpy, why on Earth would I intentionally kill someone? Just because you intentionally kill people all the time doesn't mean that I like to.' _'What about that one time when she sank the raft with her quills? Everyone, even YOU were cheesed off about that. I knew you killed that defenseless porcupine, along with the blue moose, anteater, and orange beaver with no hands. Don't call me stupid.' _ 'Alright, you got me. Now help me find the pillows and blankets or stay quiet for the rest of the night.' _'Oh, that's what you're looking for? This is my wild guess, but try the other door, next to you.'_ Flippy opened the exact door that Fliqpy told him to open and, surprisingly, he found them. 'At least you're useful for SOMETHING.' He told himself and went back to where the unconscious porcupine was laying at.

Flippy came back with two pillows and two blankets and saw Flaky, still asleep with his dogtags in her hand and still wearing his hat on her head. The veteran bear then covered her with one of the blankets he found in the ship and fixed her pillow for her to lay her head on. He lied on the sandy ground and did the same for himself. Flippy then stared at her out of worry and told himself, 'Why hasn't she woken up at all today?' He laid his hand on the side of her face and told her, "Don't die, Flaky. We need you. I need you." He then took his hand off her face and went to sleep, hoping tomorrow will be better than this day.

**XXX**

The next day came and the five tree friends were getting impatient. Not very, but a little.

Lumpy complains, "What's taking so long? They should be here by now. In fact, they should've been here five hours after Flippy left. It shouldn't take this long!"

"Maybe something bad happened. We gotta go check." Giggles said in a worried tone, got up and ran until Cuddles stopped her and said, "Giggles. I've told you before. Flippy and Flaky will be fine. If something bad happens, we'll know. Now, stop worrying. The more you worry, the more I worry about you."

The pink chipmunk, again, sighs in defeat and tells her boyfriend, "Alright." she then grabs a banana from the pile of fruit that Lumpy, Toothy and Russell found yesterday, peeled the peeling off and took a bite out of it.

"See, if you think of food and not you-know-whos, that'll definitely get your spirit up. Now, could you do me a favor and give me a coconut?"

Even though Giggles was eating her banana, she was still thinking about what could possibly happen to Flippy and Flaky out in the hot weather. 'I hope they're not dead.'

**XXX**

It's been about an hour since they've left the ship. Well, Flaky still being asleep and Flippy having to carry her, in this case. The very hot weather was starting to tire the green bear, plus the extra weight from the, still, unconscious porcupine. 'Come on, Flippy. Can't...stop...now. Almost...there.' He was about to pass out until he sees what appears to be a small cave entrance.

**XXX**

"Are they here now?" Toothy impatiently asks.

Already sick and tired of him constant asking, Lumpy replies, "No, Toothy. They're obviously not here. If they were here, we would already be futher into the cave."

"Alright, I was just asking. Ya didn't have to be a smart-elic about it." The purple beaver was about to fall asleep until he heard a small noise from outside. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Cuddles asked as he was taking a sip of his coconut milk. The noise was there, again, and this time, everyone else heard it as well.

"That. That noise. It kinda sounds like..."

"Cuddles! Giggles!"

"Flippy?!" as soon as the yellow rabbit said his name, he, along with the others, went outside to see what's going on.

"Flippy!" everyone said, excited to see that they're still alive. Well, Flippy's still alive for sure.

After the veteran bear layed Flaky on the sandy ground, he lied next to her, tired from carrying her all day.

"Flippy, where were you? And what's wrong with Flaky?" Giggles asks in a worried tone.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. She's been like this when I got her and for some reason, she called my dogtags 'Mr. Necklce' yesterday."

"She was probably having one of those hallucinations. Remember, Russell? We were sailing that one time and something bad happened and...yeah. Surprising to see the one who's scared of everything go insane like that. With a garden gnome!" As Toothy explained more about what happened at that time, Russell sees berry juice on Flaky's fingers and almost immediately knew what kind of berries they were. The turquoise sea otter told everyone, "She must've eaten poisonous berries. Look at her fingers."

"How do you know if she's eaten poisonous berries or not?" Toothy asked, curious about what Russell knows about berries, even though he is a sea otter.

"Would you like to see for yourself?"

"..."

"Didn't think so. Bring me a banana." As Lumpy gave him the fruit, he broke a piece off and put it near the purcupine's face, wondering if she'll wake up again.

Shockingly, Flaky opened her eyes and saw a piece of a banana in front of her face.

"Flaky?" Flippy said her name and held her hand, trying to comfort her.

"H-h-huh? F-F-Flippy? Russell? Y-y-you guys are alive?" she asked.

Everyone was relieved to see she's alright, especially Flippy. He was worried sick about her. He hugged her and told her, "Flaky, you're alright!"

She was kinda nervous about how the veteran bear reacted to her being okay and told him, "Y-y-yeah. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, let's see...this certain someone came to us and told us that you went insane a little by calling Flippy dogtags 'Mr. Necklace' and we just found out that you ate poisonous berries some time ago, but we don't know exactly when."

Flaky gasped because of how embarrassed she was, hearing that she was playing with Flippy's dogtags and eating poisonous berries like some weirdo. "I-I-I did?" she asked and covered her face with her hands of embarrassment.

Flippy placed his hand on her shoulder and told her, "There's nothing to be ashamed of. You were a little lonely. Now that you're here with us, there's no need to be lonely."

Flaky then realized that she still had the green bear's dogtags and gave it back. "H-h-here. Sorry I took these."

"No. I kinda left them by mistake. You can wear it if you want."

"I don't mean to ruin the moment here, but are we ever gonna go find the treasure that we were gonna look for?" Cuddles asked in a bit of a rude manner. Now that everyone is in one place, now would be the time to look for the hidden treasure.

Russell then said to everyone, "Yeah. I agree with Cuddles. Let's go find that treasure." The seven then went into the cave to finally look for the treasure that they've been longing for.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

The tree friends are now further into the cave than where they were half-hour ago and Flaky was getting more frightened by each step they take into the darkness. She grabs one of Flippy's arms tightly because of what could happen while they're inside.

The veteran bear sees her behavior and tells her, "Flaky, what's the matter?"

The red porcupine jumped and got confused about what happened. "H-h-huh?"

"Are you alright? You're acting a little...strange."

"Oh, I-I-I'm..fine. I guess." Flaky says the last part to herself as Cuddles was having fun, echoing out loud. "Hellooooooooo!"

"C-C-Cuddles, I wouldn't scream if I were you. There might be bats hanging somewhere."

"Oh, come on, Flaky. Have a LITTLE faith in ya." As soon as the yellow rabbit said those words, dozens of bats came swooping by and the tree friends were protecting each other the best they can.

Flaky was about to scream because of all of those bats swooping around until a green hand was put across her mouth. "Don't scream. If you do, they'll never get away." So everyone remained quiet for a few minutes and the bats have finally gotten away.

Almost everyone gave Cuddles an angry glare because of what he had caused. "What?"

"You know 'what'. We should keep moving." Russell instructed and that's what they did.

**XXX**

Six slides were found as soon as the tree friends came by. Lumpy reads the instructions, which were above the slides. "Only six may pass. If one slide is used more than once, then that slide will fall apart, so choose wisely."

"So one of us will have to stay here. Who's staying?"

"Can I s-s-stay?" Flaky asks, mostly because she wanted to get back to the ship, but she was getting second thoughts. If she stayed by herself, then she would more likely end up going insane due to the lack of people.

"Whaa? And miss out on this excellent adventure? Nu-uh. You're coming with us."

"It would be better to have everybody with us than to leave someone behind." Flippy agreed with Cuddles, despite the possibilities of anything extreme.

"Well, how are all supposed to slide down if there are only six slides and seven of us?" Russell asked, concerned about whether or not they'll be able to get to the treasure.

"Flaky and I could share a slide. For instance, I could sit in the front and Flaky could grab hold. That way, two people could slide at one time." the veteran bear told everyone and sat on one of the slides, waiting for the red porcupine to do the same.

"A-a-are you sure that's a good idea, Flippy?"

"Come on, Flaky. When am I ever wrong?"

She didn't want to be alone, but she also didn't want to die. So she did what Flippy instructed and grabbed hold of the green bear's arms. Down the slide they went, along with the sound of Flaky screaming.

"Weeeeeeee!" Cuddles hurried to the slide and went down, followed by the other four.

**XXX**

Flaky is still heard screaming as she and Flippy were sliding down the long and extreme slide. "Flaky! There's nothing to worry about! Besides, this is actually kinda fun!"

"T-t-this slide is deadly! H-h-how can anyone enjoy this?!" Flaky panicks and grabs Flippy's arms, tighter than usual, for dear life.

"Well, this isn't really deadly. I mean, there's no traps anywhere we see!"

"B-b-but still!"

"WEEEEEEEEEEEE! THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!" Cuddles shouts, spinning around on the wide slide happily. He then hears a familiar scream and immediately knew who that scream belonged to. "Come on, Flaky! Don't be such a coward like you always are!"

"Cuddles?" Flippy said the rabbit's name and turned to his left to see him having the time of his life, along with Giggles, Toothy, Russell, and Lumpy in each separate slides.

"Hey, Giggles!"

"Oh, hey, Cuddles!"

"W-w-when is this going to end?!"

"I think I see the exit! Right over there!" the green bear pointed to what looked like a giant hole for them to go down.

The first one to reach the end of the slide was Flippy. He stood on his two legs after he slid down the long slide.

Flaky was the next one to reach the end and Flippy caught her as soon as she was off the slide.

"T-t-thanks."

"No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

Flaky then realized that she was still wearing Flippy's hat and dogtags. "Oh. I forgot all about these. H-h-here, you can have them back now if you want them."

"No, it's alright, remember? Here, you can wear my dogtags if you'd like." Flippy then took the dogtags out of Flaky's hand and put it around her neck.

Noises were then heard, revealing Cuddles, saying, "That was fun! We should do that again, sometime."

Giggles was the next to reach the end. Then came Toothy, Russell, and finally, Lumpy.

"Are we all here?" the pirate asks.

"I-I-I think so." the red porcupine responded and said "I h-h-hope the next thing we go to won't be so h-h-horrifying."

The tree friends continued the treasure search as Cuddles says to Flaky, "What was so horrifying about the slides? They're just slides. There weren't any booby traps in them at all. Sometimes, you just don't know what the term 'fun' means."

**XXX**

"How long does it take just to find treasure? I'm getting hungry over here!" the voice complained.

"They'll probably be back in a couple of minutes. Quick, let's get in the ship and grab some food while they're gone." another voice instructed. Then, those two climbed up to the ship, revealing to be the two thieves of Happy Tree Town. They did their laugh first before searching what they need from the ship.

Lifty first searches behind the wheel for anything, but no luck. He then looks in the three barrels, but only found cobwebs and a spider. "Ya found anything, yet?!" the hatless raccoon asks.

"No!" Shifty tells him, but when he opened the square crate, he wouldn't believe his eyes. "Change that to a 'hallelujah.' I found the jackpot!"

Lifty's voice was then heard from a far distance. "Well, what are ya waitin for? Let's get it and scram!" They both tried their best to pick up the heavy crate, but it instead dropped on both of their feet, breaking the crate and spilled the food all over the place.

"OW! THAT REALLY HURTS, YA KNOW! NOW HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET FOOD?!" Shifty shouts at his younger brother as they both sat down and rub their feet to make it feel better.

"Ssshhh! Ya know they could be here any minute. So keep quiet, ya loud mouth. Hmmm. How about we take armfuls of food instead of carrying a giant crate. It might take a lot of trips, but it's worth not getting hurt again." Lifty said. They both got back on their feet and started carrying the food that fell on the floor to their boat.

"See, was that so hard?" the hatless raccoon asked in a sarcastic voice.

Shifty then grabs an apple, takes a bite out of it, and tells his younger brother, "Yes, it kinda was. And I can't believe that those idiots left all of these food out here in the open. If you ask me, they must be horrible at hiding things."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

As the tree friends were walking to their next cave course, they see a room with no ground.

"What the heck is this?" Cuddles asks out of confusion, but he, along with Toothy and Giggles, never notices the rope with both ends attached to both sides of the cave. "How are we supposed to get across with no ground? Unless someone can fly, it's literally IMPOSSIBLE."

"Are ya blind? I only have one eye and even I can see the rope. Look, closely." Russell told the confused rabbit.

Cuddles did just that and barely saw the rope, but almost fell in the process. "Whoa, whoa, WHOAAAA-! Huh?" Thinking that he fell in the groundless hole, he gets confused and asks, "Am I dead?" He then looks and sees what was grabbing his ankle and sees Giggles, Flippy and Toothy.

"You're lucky we even grabbed hold of your small ankles." the purple beaver complained, despite the fact that most of the tree friends in Happy Tree Town have small feet. The three then pulled Cuddles from the dark hole.

"So, who's going first?" the yellow rabbit asks, completely forgetting about the 'almost falling in the dark hole' incident.

"D-d-definitely n-n-not m-m-me." As Flaky's stuttering got worse, she thought about how dangerous tightrope walking above the groundless hole can be, making her very queasy. The red porcupine ran over to the right side of the cave and threw up.

"Come on, Flaky. This can't be that bad. What's the big deal about it anyway? It's just tightrope walking."

"Th-th-that's the same as saying 'it's just a deathtrap.' So, n-n-no, I'm n-n-not going." Cuddles then puts his right foot on the thin, but tight rope and tells Flaky, "Ya know, you're gonna have to conquer you fears someday. So, who's all with me on this?"

"Right behind ya." the pink chipmunk said and followed Cuddles to get to the other side.

'Now how am I supposed to get across if I don't have feet like they do?' Russell thought, knowing that he only has peg legs for feet.

Lumpy sees the pirate and by the looks of it, he wasn't sure how he was going to get across with those kind of feet. The blue moose asks, "Hey, Russell, ya need any assistance?"

"Well...sure, why not." Russell didn't like to be picked up, but that was the only option he had in order to get across.

As Lumpy picks up the sea otter like they were going on a piggy-back ride, he walks on the tight rope, trying not to fall.

Toothy follows while Flippy and Flaky stayed and watched. "A-a-aren't you going with them?"

"I would've figured you'd like a little company, but if you want me to go with them-"

"N-n-no! No. I-i-it's fine." Flaky interrupts as she grabbed his hand, worried about what could happen if the veteran bear went further.

**XXX**

"Phew. I thought I was gonna die over there." Giggles says, weakly. She was about as scared as Flaky would be, tightrope walking and knowing that you could fall into the dark with no one around you.

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad." Cuddles tells her as they were all walking ahead to see what else is ahead.

"Says the one who dies everytime he does something extreme." Toothy told the yellow rabbit, making Lumpy laugh out loud and say, "Haha! That is true, but I'm the one who kills everyone. So why am I laughing? Still kinda funny."

The tree friends stopped and see a wall with big spikes. The spikes, though, aren't ginormous, but about as big as Lumpy's antlers.

"So...who's going first?" Toothy said, breaking the silence.

Cuddles walked towards it and tries to get a grip on one of the spikes. "This shouldn't be hard." the daredevil rabbit then climbs up the wall of spikes. Slowly, but surely.

"Come on, Cuddles! You can do it!" the pink chipmunk shouts, wanting to think of something positive for her boyfriend while he tries to climb.

"Come on, guys! It's all good!" Giggles was the next to climb. Followed by Toothy, Russell, and lastly, Lumpy.

**XXX**

Flippy and Flaky are found, sitting in the corner of the cave. The green bear can tell that Flaky was embarrassed about something, but doesn't know what. He asks, "What's the matter, Flaky?"

The red porcupine looks up a little, but didn't exactly hear what he said. "H-h-huh?"

"I said 'what's the matter.' If it's about the whole 'eating poisonous berries and going insane' thing, then-"

"N-n-no. It's not that."

Flippy got confused and asks, wanting to know. "Then...what are you embarrassed about?"

It took a while for Flaky to respond, but she thought about how Flippy was going to react if she told him. "W-w-what if Cuddles is right? M-m-maybe I am just a coward."

"What makes you say that?" "W-w-well...everytime he asks me if I wanna do something or go somewhere and I tell him no, he drags me into anything and anywhere."

"Well, I do know one thing. And that one thing I know for sure is that you're not a coward. Just because you don't wanna ride roller coasters or anything like that, that doesn't mean you're a coward. For instance, you probably don't wanna ride the ferris wheel because something bad might happen. I wouldn't call that cowardice. I'd call that genius."

"Y-y-you think so?"

"Sure."

Flaky felt a little better for Flippy's encouragement and about a few seconds later, she saw another tunnel.

"Flaky, are you alright?"

"...Do you think that there could be another way to find that treasure?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"There's a tunnel over there, but I don't know if that leads to it or not." The red porcupine told him and pointed over to where the tunnel is at.

As he was walking to the tunnel, he said, "Oh. I don't know, but we should find out. There shouldn't be any bats as far as I'm concerned."

Flaky walked over to the green bear and followed, grabbing his arm like earlier.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

The five tree friends continue on their journey for the search. They come across three ropes, hanging on the sensitive top.

"Aw, cool! We get to swing the ropes. Awesome!"

Russell looks up to find the cave top to be in a slightly poor condition.

The yellow rabbit tugs on the rope a little and gets ready to swing, but Russell grabs his arm with his non hook hand to stop him and tells the daredevil, "No, wait! Look up."

Cuddles did just that and looked a bit terrified, which is unusual of him to do. "Ooooohh, thank Splendid that I didn't swing that. So, how are we all supposed to get across at once?"

Lumpy thought for a moment and hatched an idea, "Aha!" was all he said. The blue moose picked up Russell and placed him on his left antler, unbalancing them until Lumpy picked up Toothy and sat him on his other antler.

"What are you doing, crazy antlers?" Toothy asked, confused about why he and Russell were on top of his mismatched antlers.

"I have an idea. An idea of you guys hanging on while I swing across." He then placed Cuddles on his back, like he was giving him a piggy-back ride. Giggles was placed behind the yellow rabbit. "Now, hang on." Lumpy said as he was grabbing hold of the first rope. He swings to the second rope and as soon as he got hold of the second one, the first rope fell into the deep, dark hole.

The four tree friends were holding on for dear life as the blue moose was aiming for the third rope. He misses with one hand, but successfully grabs the third rope with the other. When they were on the third rope, they have done better and have successfully made it to the ground.

"Phew, good thing Lumpy managed to grab hold of those ropes. Otherwise, we'd be puddles." Toothy said. The tree friends were on the ground again and were getting ready to move along.

"I hope there aren't as much of that stuff left. I'm getting kinda tired." Giggles said in a weak voice.

Lumpy gave her a glare, thinking that he was the one doing all the work, swinging the ropes. "Says the one who was just hanging on to my neck while I was the one grabbing hold of the ropes." The blue moose looked at his burned hands in disappointment.

"Sorry, dude. My bad." Cuddles responded, disappointed in himself for almost killing Lumpy.

"Anyone else wanna find the treasure or no?" Russell asked, starting to get impatient. He thought, 'We didn't come all this way just to die.'

"Well, heck, yeah we're finding that treasure!" Cuddles immediately agreed and went ahead of the other four.

**XXX**

As the tree friends were walking, they see something glowing ahead of them. They were all getting very excited, knowing that could be the treasure they've been longing for.

Cuddles runs over to the glowing room and shouts, "TREASURE! Come on, slowpokes! You're gonna miss out!"

Toothy sighs and says out of relief, "Thank acorns there's no more cave courses to do. That was getting a bit carried away."

"Well, let's open this baby up, shall we?"

They did just that. The tree friends all pulled as hard as they can, but it wouldn't budge. They tried the second time, but nothing happened.

Before they were getting ready to try the third time, the tree friends heard a familiar voice from the right side of the room. "Cuddles?! Toothy?!"

"Flippy?" The yellow rabbit and purple beaver said in unison, confused about Flippy and Flaky staying in the tightrope walking room.

The veteran bear comes in the room with Flaky holding his arm. Flippy then gives Cuddles a small glare because of what Flaky told him earlier, but he didn't say anything about it.

Toothy breaks the silence and asks, "How did you two get here? I thought you were in that one room."

"Well, we-"

"Don't say anything yet. That is for us to know and for you to know AFTER we get the treasure."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's open up the treasure."

So, the tree friends, with the addition of Flippy and Flaky, try to open the treasure. Successfully, it opens. "Whoa...!"

They all stared in amazement until Russell closes the treasure and tells the other tree friends, "We should go back now. Don't wanna be here all day."

Lumpy walks over and grabs the treasure chest, but with it being very heavy, it was hard for him to pick up.

"Need any help, Lumpy?" Flippy asks and walks over to where the blue moose was holding the treasure. Before he said anything, a noise occurred, which sounded like an earthquake.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Cuddles asks.

"Hear what?" Giggles asks, confused.

The noise occurred again about a few seconds later, but this time, it was louder.

"That. Maybe someone's hungry." The tree friends started walking, but then the earthquake noise was actually the cave rocks starting to tumble.

"That's not someone's stomach! The cave is starting to tumble! Everyone run!" Flippy instructed. Everyone ran as fast as they can, but then the veteran bear realized that someone was missing. He gasps and shouts, "Flaky!" As he was running over to her, he grabs her hand and tells her, "Come on. We gotta get outta here! Quick!" So they went out along with the others.

**XXX**

They finally reach to where they entered, but a huge boulder was stuck at the entrance.

"Oh, man. How are we gonna get out now." Cuddles asks, worried that they might never get the treasure chest home.

"Everyone, push the boulder! This way!" Flippy said and pointed to the right side of the cave.

Everyone pushed and it successfully rolled over. They all ran out and right before the cave tumbles to the ground, Flaky trips and Flippy grabs her arm and pulls her so the rocks wouldn't kill her...literally.

Now the cave is just giant rocks laying everywhere. Flaky realizes she's not dead and tells Flippy, "Th-th-thanks, Flippy."

"Anytime." The two then stared at each other for a few seconds and Lumpy interrupts the moment by saying, "Are we ever gonna leave. This is kidna heavy."

"Lumpy, I could carry that for you if you want." Flippy offers as he and Flaky were walking over to the treasure chest. The green bear tries his best to pick up the heavy item, but it barely budges.

"Dude, we can help you with that. There's no need for killing yourself, trying to pick up that thing." Cuddles and Toothy then went over and helped Flippy pick up the treasure.

"Well, it's gonna be a looooong walk, going back to the ship." Giggles says and starts walking, along with Russell, Lumpy and Flaky.

**XXX**

The tree friends finally reach to the ship and Cuddles, Toothy and Flippy dropped the treasure in front of the ship. Cuddles drops down on his stomach and weakly says, "Ooohh, man. Who knew that carrying something that heavy could wipe three people out at once. Hehe."

Lumpy walks over to take the treasure to the ship, but by the looks of it, someone has been in there besides the seven tree friends.

"Lumpy, ya alright?" the pirate asks, but when he looked over to the same direction Lumpy was looking, He panics and shouts, "We've been robbed!"

"Either that or someone doesn't know how to clean up after themselves." Toothy said as he and Cuddles were walking while rubbing their backs.

The tree friends got into the ship and Lumpy was taking the treasure into the room that had a lock on it. In case it was already unlocked, the blue moose tried to open the door with his foot and surprisingly, it opened. He then walked down the stairs, trying not to drop the special item.

As Lumpy made his way in the room, he placed the treasure chest underneath the staircase and covered it with a cloth of some sort. "Mmm-hm." he said and went back upstairs to join with the other tree friends.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

As the boat was leaving the island, Cuddles and Toothy decided to take a nap in the other room because of them, along with Flippy, carrying the treasure for about a couple of hours. Giggles decided to join with them.

"Aren't y-y-you going with them? You h-h-have been helping those two the whole time."

"I know, but I'm not that tired. Why, are you?"

"A l-l-little..." there was silence for a few seconds until the red porcupine's stomach was grumbling. "...and h-h-hungry." Before Flaky got up to get herself a snack of some sort, the green bear stood up and stopped her, telling her, "Here, I'll get ya something. Just tell me what you want and I'll get it."

"W-w-well...um..." she thought for a moment while fiddling with the dogtags that Flippy let her wear until she decided to see what was in the crate herself.

Flippy and Flaky are now where two large crates of food are at and as the red porcupine opens one of those crates, she sees fresh fruit, sitting in place. "I'm gonna go over there for a few seconds, Flaky. I'll be right back."

"O-o-oh. Okay." As soon as she said that, the green bear left, leaving Flaky where she's at.

A few seconds later, Flaky is still choosing what to have for a snack until she grabs an apple and a banana from the large crate. Suddenly, she sees a rope hanging on the ship. Flaky gets scared and slowly backs away with her two fruits as two figures climb aboard. One of them, wearing a fedora hat, grabs the red porcupine, covers her mouth to avoid her screaming and holds her hostile. "Try screaming and you're gonna regret it." The figure says as takes a small knife and holds it up to her face. So, avoiding death, Flaky kept quiet.

**XXX**

Cuddles, Giggles, and Toothy came out of their napping room, having some energy, and they see Flippy just standing there. The yellow rabbit asks, "Flippy, what are you doing over here? And where did Flaky run off to?"

No response and then, he asks again. "Flippy? Ya alright, buddy?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. What were you asking?"

"I was asking where Flaky went. Have you seen her?"

The veteran bear pointed over to where the two large crates of food are at and told them, "She should be over there."

They looked at that direction as soon as he told them, but there was no sign of the red porcupine. "Dude, are you playing with us? Becuase if you are, then you must be good at not finding people."

"No, I'm serious. She was right over there last time I saw her."

Russell came to their direction, hearing that someone was missing, and asked them out of worry, "Who ran away?"

"Flaky. She's probably in one of those rooms over there." Giggles told the pirate and pointed to the doors to their right.

But before the tree friends went to find the red porcupine, two figures come out from behind the two large crates, revealing to be Lifty and Shifty. The one with the fedora hat holds Flaky hostage with a small knife held to her face and tells those four, "Don't you leave just yet. You're gonna tell us where that treasure is at or this girl gets it."

Flippy gasps at this sight and shouts, "Flaky!" He sees the knife held to the red porcupine's face and tries not to flip out at this scene, but it was too late. The Pac-Man pupils have now turned round and the yellowish-green irises have appeared along with the sharp teeth.

"Uh-oh. We'd better hide or we're gonna be diced up into pieces." Giggles tells Cuddles and Toothy quietly. They crawled away to avoid getting killed and stopped when they saw Russell and Lumpy doing the same thing.

Fliqpy has appeared and is now in control. As he sees the knife in Shifty's hand, he runs over to where he and Lifty are at and takes the knife. Leaving Flaky behind, the two raccoons run away from the evil bear as fast as they can.

The red porcupine sees the actions and stops it by shouting, "Flippy! What are you doing?!"

Right before the green bear was about to kill the raccoons, Fliqpy turned back into Flippy as soon as he heard someone say his name. "Huh?" He sees a knife in his hand and drops it, not knowing how he got it in the first place.

"Oh, Flaky, why'd you do that?" Cuddles asked himself aloud as he facepalmed his forehead, knowing that there's a greater risk of getting robbed now that Fliqpy was gone.

"We wanna live, don't we?" the pink chipmunk pointed out.

Toothy wanted to be included in the conversation and told them, "Maybe she did that to save herself.?"

Lifty and Shifty now know that Fliqpy was out of the way and decided to tie him up like they did one night when they robbed his house.

Lifty whispers and points to the green bear, "Shouldn't we blindfold him in case of...?"

Shifty knew who he was referring to and told him, "Probably a good idea."

So, they tied him up and blindfolded him so you-know-who wouldn't jump out and kill everyone.

"Might as well tie everyone else up." Lifty went to get more rope until Shifty stopped him and told him, "Wait, don't tie up the red one. She'll be useful. Get everyone else."

"Okay.?" The younger raccoon then left to get more rope.

As Lifty was tying everyone else up, which was hard to do by youreself with them struggling to break free, Shifty was walking to where Flaky was at and told her, "You WILL be useful by telling us where the treasure is at, right? Because if you don't, then you, along with your friends, will be thrown off board to have fun with the fish. Would you like that?"

Flaky was now terrified than usual when she heard about being thrown off ship. What will happen to everyone now that they're tied up? She then spoke. "A-a-alright, I'll tell you where it is."

Cuddles, along with Giggles, Toothy, Russell, and Lumpy heard this. The yellow rabbit gets worried about the treasure and tells the red porcupine, "Flaky, what are you doing?"

"The most important question is: has she gotten rid of her paranoia? She doesn't look as scared as she usually is." Toothy implied. "And WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FLAKY?!"

Getting impatient, Shifty tells Flaky in a forceful tone, "Well, what are ya waiting for? Tell us where it's at."

Flaky didn't know what to tell them at this point. Either tell them a lie and end up getting killed, or tell them where it actually is and lose the whole treasure chest. She then thought of what to do. "It's...i-i-it's behind the wheel over there!" She tells him and points over to where the wheel is at.

"Hehehe. Thanks for telling us, 'Red.'" Shifty said in sarcasm as the two raccoons ran over to where Flaky told them where the treasure is at.

Immediately, the red porcupine ran over to where the tied up, blindfolded bear was at and tried to untie him as fast as she could before they returned.

"Flaky, w-w-what are you doing?" Flippy asks out of confusion.

"I'm getting you guys free before they get back." She tells him as she was untying the ropes.

Lifty and Shifty were heard yelling "Hey! You lied to us!" They walked back to where Flippy and Flaky were at with Shifty still holding his small knife. "You think you can get away with telling lies like that? I don't think so."

As Flippy sees the sharp object, his eyes go from Pac-Man shaped pupils to round pupils with yellowish-green irises, his teeth turn sharp, and his voice deepens and evilly laughs. Fliqpy was back.

The evil bear got out his bowie knife and stabbed Lifty in the neck. Slowly, he took the knife out and sliced his body in half.

Flaky gasps as she saw what the bear was doing. She tried to think of an idea as fast as she can before she was next. She looked over to the food crate and thought of something.

Fliqpy was going after Shifty next. Instead of doing the same thing he did to Lifty, he grabbed his hat and shoved it in his face, suffocating him as he did his evil laugh, again.

The red porcupine runs over to the two large food crates and spills the food from one of them on the floor. 'I hope this works.' She thought as she scooted the crate to the far side of the ship. As soon as she gets there, she picks up the crate, slowly due to the heaviness of it, and tries to fill it with water by putting the crate overboard, trying not to drop it.

Fliqpy was finished killing Shifty and looks over to where Cuddles and everyone else were at. As soon as they saw the eyes of the evil bear, they knew they were done for. The evil bear got out his bowie knife and walked over to them.

The yellow rabbit pleaded, "F-F-Flippy! It's us! Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Lumpy and Russell! We're your friends, remember?"

"The only 'friend' I have is this handy-dandy bowie knife." Fliqpy slowly walked over and was prepared to slice the organs out of their bodies, but he heard something coming in his direction. "Huh?"

Flaky tumped the water on the bear, causing a mess on the floorboards and hopefully, getting rid of Fliqpy. Due to how large the crate was, it literally covered Fliqpy...or Flippy. Not wanting to suffocate the bear, Flaky got off the crate as quick as she could and removed it out of Flippy's way. "Flippy!" she shouted and ran to hug the bear, who was soaking wet from the water that got tumped on him.

Flippy returned the hug and asked out of confusion, "Flaky? You're alright? Where's everyone else? Are they okay?"

"Uum, yeah, except that we're tied up and stuff, but other than that, we're fine." Cuddles told him.

"Flaky, you scared me to death."

Having a confused look on her face, Flaky had to ask, "What do you mean 'I' scared you to death?"

"I mean when you almost told those two thieves where the treasure is at. I thought you were going to give it away. Come to think of it, that would probably be somehting Sniffles would do."

"W-w-why would I do that? They're thieves."

They were still hugging for a few seconds until Cuddles interrupted the moment. "Um, I hate to be the one interrupting, but can we be free now?"

"Oh, hehe. Sorry. Yeah, we'll help ya." The veteran bear told them and he and Flaky untied the ropes, setting everyone else free.

"We should go back home, now. I'm getting kinda bored with all this treasure hunting stuff."

Russell walked over to the wheel and said, "Yeah, we should. Someone's gotta steer the wheel."

**XXX**

It was night time and everyone was asleep, except for Flaky, who was sitting up and looking at the sky at that time.

Unexpectedly, Flippy sat up and saw what she was doing. "Hey, Flaky." She jumped as soon as she heard him say her name. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya like that. What's the matter? Can't sleep?"

"Y-y-yeah."

There was silence for about a few minutes until the green bear brought up a conversation. "Listen, I just wanna thank you for saving Cuddles and everyone else back there. Ya know, that was one of the bravest things you've ever done."

"H-h-how did you know that I tumped the crate of water on you...o-o-or Fliqpy, I should say?"

"Just because he's busy killing, that doesn't mean I don't know what you guys are doing...sometimes. It's very hard to explain. I also wanted to thank you for coming with us on this treasure hunt."

"H-h-huh?"

"I mean if you hadn't come along, this whole thing wouldn't be as fun."

Flaky turns her head and tells herself, "Y-y-yeah. Kinda like if you hadn't some along, I'd be even more terrified than usual."

"What was that?"

"N-n-nothing. Hehe."

Silence has occurred again for a few seconds. Not wanting to get any less sleep, Flippy broke the silence and told the red porcupine, "Well, we should go ahead and get some sleep. We got a big day ahead of us."

"Y-y-yeah."

They both lied down, but instead of sleeping, Flippy was looking at the sky for a few minutes until he saw Flaky snuggle against him. He blushed at that moment, thinking that Flaky wouldn't do something like this. 'Would she?' The voice then comes back, irritating the heck out of Flippy. _'I don't know. Would she? And hey, remember when you said that you'd stop talking to me about everything? Well, it ain't happening right now. is it?' _'Well, I'm sorry for trying not to wake everyone up. We DO deserve some sleep, ya know.' _'Why are you blaming me for all this? You're the one thinking here. So, if you're gonna be blaming someone, blame yourself.' _' But it is your fault for still living in my head.' _'My fault for protecting you when we were in war? Gee, thanks for all the help and support.' _'Yeah, and thanks for killing everyone everytime you see them for 3 seconds. Now, leave me alone.' _'Fine.' _So Fliqpy left him alone, not saying anything and Flippy went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

The sun as risen and Flippy and Flaky are seen, still sleeping. The red porcupine was still in the position she was in when she fell asleep and Flippy was facing her direction.

Cuddles, Giggles, and Toothy take a peek in the room to see if the two have stirred yet. The yellow rabbit takes out an air horn and tells the two, "I guess it's time to end their sleepiness now."

Before he pushes the button to make the sound, Giggles snatches it away, remembering Fliqpy's existence, and quietly screams at her daredevil boyfriend. "Are you crazy? If you make any sound with this, we'll all die. Besides, those two look cute together. So why would you wanna ruin their sleepy moment like that?"

"Ah, you're right. We should bail. Come on, guys, let's go do something else fun."

The three then left right before Flippy woke up. "H-h-huh? Cuddles?" Forgetting that Flaky was still snuggling with him, he sat up, causing Flaky to bump her head on the bed, waking her up.

"F-F-Flippy? You alright?" She asked as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I thought I heard Cuddles, but it's probably my imagination. You wanna go see what the others are doing?" The veteran bear got up out of bed and lended her a hand in case she wanted to come along.

Flaky held his hand, meaning that she wanted to follow, told him, "S-s-sure. Just as long as nothing bad happens, l-l-like yesterday." After she said that, she held his hand and they both went out of the room to see that the others are up to.

"It's about time you two sleepyheads got out of bed! So...how did your snuggle fest go?" the yellow rabbit asked, embarrassing Flippy and Flaky.

They were blushing so much that their faces turned pink, even Flaky's despite her face being red. "W-w-what are you talking about? We didn't do that." the red porcupine asked.

"Of course you did. We saw you two cuddling all over each other. We were gonna wake you guys up, but instead, we decided to give you guys some rest, sadly."

"Alright, you got us. Do you know how close we are from home, yet?" Flippy quickly asked, wanting to change subjects.

Russell walked in the group and told them, "We're not that far, actually. We're about 5 minutes away."

"Wait, why is it taking us longer to get home than it did when we got to the island?" Toothy asked in a concerned tone.

"Well, I was steering the ship for about a few minutes, but I got tired and decided to take us home the next day."

The tree friends then decided to have a little something to eat before they got home.

About 5 minutes later, like Russell said how far they were from home, Lumpy was heard, yelling, "LAAAAAAAND HOOOOOOOO!"

"Lumpy, we're not going to another island. I hope you know that." the pirate told him.

"I know. I just thought I'd say that. But we're home, right?"

**XXX**

The tree friends got off the ship and Russell told them his plan, "Okay, to avoid getting caught with the treasure, I'll bring my car over here and we'll put the treasure in the trunk, so no one can see through the windows. Then, you guys can come over to my house and get your prize. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Sure, why not?" They all agreed as Russell was walking to his house, which was not too far from where they're at, and the six tree friends were waiting eagerly for the pirate.

Fifteen minutes later and a car stopped by. The door opened, revealing the driver to be Russell and he asks, "Everyone ready?"

The trunk opens and Lumpy puts the treasure chest inside.

Thinking about this frequently, Flippy asked the pirate, "Russell, is there anywhere you'd hide the treasure so nobody can find it, but you? Because if Lifty and Shifty ever come back, there's no doubt they'll steal it." Flippy did have a point. There was no way those two thieves were going to give up on the beloved treasure.

"Of course I do, but I'm not telling you. Not that I don't trust you or anything. Anyways, if you guys don't wanna come now, you can stop by in the afternoon." Russell told the tree friends and drove off.

"I'm going now! Come on, Toothy. Giggles, are you coming?"

"No, not right now. I'm going over to Petunia's and then I'll be there. See ya."

As the three left, Lumpy went with Cuddles and Toothy and Flippy and Flaky started seeing the other tree friends walking by.

"So...do you wanna go over to Russell's right now or...I'm just asking. You don't have to go if you don't want to." Flippy asked as his face was blushing.

"I-I-I'll wait until everyone else already has their share. W-w-why, a-a-are you wanting to go n-n-now?"

"Not really. So, where do you wanna go? We could go to Happy Tree Diner, the amusement park, anywhere you want."

"W-w-well, I am kinda hungry, hehe." the red porcupine chuckles in a nervous way.

Flippy grabs her hand and suggests, "Then, let's go to Happy Tree Diner. They're still seving breakfast." And so, to Happy Tree Diner, they went.

**XXX**

About fifteen minutes later, Flippy and Flaky are found, sitting at a two-seated table and eating breakfast burritos. Flaky said to the veteran bear, "This is r-r-really good. W-w-we should eat breakfast here m-m-more often...I-I-I mean we don't h-h-have to, but-" the red porcupine was then interrupted.

"Flaky, you don't have to be so nervous. You're allowed to express your opinions. I don't have a problem with them. And you're right. We should eat breakfast here more often. I'd be happy to if you wanna come back here tomorrow."

Flaky didn't think of much to say thanks to Flippy's nice and encouraging words. She blushed as she was finishing her burrito.

The two then exited Happy Tree Diner and started walking. "You wanna go to the amusement park? We can ride the ferris wheel, or play some games, but if you don't want to, that's fine. I was just thinking of something we could do while we're waiting until everyone has their treasure share." Flippy insisted.

"I-I-I like the gaming idea better. L-l-last time I went on a roller coaster, I threw up upside-down and I do n-n-not want that to happen again." Flaky told the green bear as she was playing with the dogtags that Flippy let her wear back at the island.

"Then the games we shall play." He said and lended her his hand. The red porcupine gladly accepted the offer and the two walked to the amusement park, now holding hands.

The End


End file.
